Quick Update

Hello all,

Just wanted to send you a quick note about some recent changes to the blog. The list of “Tours” under Stockholm was getting too long, so I broke out all the boat rides and cruises and gave them their own category (still under Stockholm).

I also moved the article about Fjäderholmarna Island under the “Boat Rides and Cruises” list. But here’s the great news, when I moved that article, it occurred to me the article was one of my fisrt and wasn’t really up to the high standards of The Travelin’ Man! So I have completely gutted it and restructured it, and I added reviews of the restaurants, including the ones we went to with Melissa and Brandi while they were here, and there are a ton of new pics, so please give it a read and see what you think. Click here to see it now.

THANKS ALL and have a great day!

Copenhagen Food Tour

Logistics

This was The Culinary Experience Tour.  It covers about 4 km (2.5 mi) over about 4 hours and has seven tastings. The tour costs 850 ddk ($135). The tour starts and ends at Torvehallerne, which is the new covered market areas.

Our guide was Birgitte, and she really rocked it. She was very knowledgeable about history, landmarks, and the restaurants, and she had an energetic and friendly style.

See the two pictures above that detail the names and addresses of all the places we went, as well as a map of the tour, which was primarily around central Copenhagen.

The Tour

We met outside the Torvehallerne market area. Birgitte gave us a very informative historical perspective on how the covered markets came to be here, and the impact of their presence on the local area.

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Once inside, we went over to a an artisan cheese maker called Arla Unika. The cheeses were exceptionally good, but especially the blue cheese. I’m not a big fan of blue cheese, but I must say this stuff was exceptional. I never had a cheese melt in my mouth like that. BirgitteExplained that part of the secret involved using a yogurt base. The fruit wine that accompanied the cheeses did a good job melding with the flavor of the cheeses. So yes, a very small plate, but what a grand tasting!

 

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Next, we stepped over to the cheese house Bornholmer Butikken, which specializes in products from the island of Bornholm, Denmark. Of special note was the black licorice. Even folks who don’t care much for the stuff seemed to enjoy it. Very mellow, with a smooth, sweet aftertaste.

We walked through a beautiful area in the center of Botanisk Have (Botanimal Garden). Birgitte Got out some locally produced honey and some taste sticks. Once you taste this pure golden honey, you realize how corrupt all other honey is! It really was that good folks.

As you can see in the pictures, it was a bit overcast. It did, in fact, rain a couple of times while we were walking, but we had a lively crew that was unwilling to let a little rain spoil the fun.

After the Botanical Gardens, we walked to Aamanns Deli. This was a sit down stop. The deli itself was quite cozy, and there were a few local folks inside enjoying a meal. Birgitte brought out a platter for each of us that had four small open face sandwiches (called smørrebrød). These are quite popular in Copenhagen.

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The idea behind smørrebrød is to combine a variety of meats, vegetables, and other ingredients to produce a new, unique flavor. Different restaurants and deli’s all have their chefs trying to create the perfect taste combination that the locals will discover and flock to. And of course Aamanns was doing quite well at this.

Now with substantial food in our bellies, we crossed the canal and ventured through the uppity neighborhood of Jens Juels Gade. Birgitte gave us the history of how it was once a slum of sorts, with each house containing three or more families.

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The next stop, also a sit down, was at the Nørrebro Bryghus Danish microbrewery. Here we each got a light, med, and dark ale to sample. I liked all three of them. The dark had a unique, lasting flavor to it. My favorite was the middle one. Rich and full, but not as heavy as the dark one and more robust than the light. Yup, I finished all three of mine!

Now the next place just doesn’t sound real fancy, and there is no way for me to sell in that way no matter how hard I try, so I’ll just come out with it; it was a street stand that served gourmet hot dogs. See, I knew that was going to be tricky.

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But seriously, you get to pick the type of wiener/brat, bun type, and any fixings. I got to tell you folks, short of my own backyard, these are the best hot dogs I have ever tasted. I later realized that I had forgotten the name of the place, so we went back a little while later, and they had vanished….like it never happened.

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What better way to finish up a great food tour than with some candy. We headed over to Sømods Bolcher (candy maker). We sampled some hard candy and some carmel, all was melt in your mouth delicious. They make the candy the old fashioned way and even use old original equipment from the turn of the century.

Then we finished up where we started, back at the food market.

 

Tivoli Gardens of Copenhagen

Tivoli Gardens of Copenhagen

 

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Easily the most beautiful amusement park I have ever seen. Do you remember “I Dream of Jeannie,” the TV show from the late 60’s? Recall how she had a fully furnished living room down inside that tiny little bottle she lived in? Well this amusement park is just like that.

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You look around at all the rides, ponds, gardens, and restaurants, and you ask yourself, how the hell did they get all this stuff in the middle of town and in such a seemingly very small area. It’s truly amazing. I’m sure it is actually the bottom of some genie’s bottle.

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And there are quite a few rides packed in here, and not cheap rides like you might see in other amusement parks, some of these are really decent rides. And the restaurants, OMG. Tons of restaurants at all levels of quality. Seriously, like 20 places to eat, probably 80% were sit down decent restaurants.

The other 20% would be fast food, street food booths, and candy vendors. The smell of cotton candy, hamburgers, and popcorn tells your senses your are definitely in an amusement park!

 

 

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We sat at one place for drinks. We were surrounded by the beautifully landscaped gardens and literally right next to a pond used for the bumper boats. From where we sat, we could see most of the biggest and scariest rides all around us, and we were entertained by hearing the screams from the passengers. It was awesome fun! No, of course we didn’t ride anything. But we sure had fun laughing at those who did!

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Oh wait, we did find one ride us old folks could handle, haha! She makes it look so easy!

Later, we had dinner at Fru Nimb, which is reviewed on the restaurants page. It was an unforgettable experience sitting on their private terrace, people watching while having a delicious dinner and wine with our friend from the US, Melissa-The-Shark-Tamer. We love you girl!

Good times.

The Train

The Train

Train from Stockholm to Copenhagen

Logistics

We got our round trip tickets online at sj.se for about 1200 kr each ($150). The train ride is around five hours each way. We left Stockholm Central Station on time, and arrived at Copenhagen Central Station a half hour late.

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The seats were preassigned. The rows were two seats on each side. We all sat together in the same area. The seats, even though they did not recline, were very comfortable. And about as roomy as a first class ticket on a plane, though not as wide. There was ample storage overhead. Each seat had a large pull down table, and there were two power outlets in the center console.

There is, of course, a bathroom on each car. There was a bistro in car 5 that served snacks, sandwiches, and drinks, including beer and wine.

 

The Ride

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As you would expect, the scenery across southern Sweden is absolutely stunning. And keep in mind that these pictures were taken from the high speed train while zipping through the countryside.

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Coming from the city, we sometimes forget what the wide open country looks like. Beautiful sprawling pastures, lush green forests, and calm clear lakes and ponds. You can almost smell the fresh air even inside the high speed train as it dashes through the scenery.

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And the train is so quiet, it’s very easy to take naps or have quiet conversations. For the most part, it is a very smooth ride, but there was some side to side jostling later in the trip out. I assume this was because we were at a higher rate of speed to make up some lost time. There are frequent stops at most of the major towns to pick people up and drop others off.

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Then you’ll cross the Øresund Bridge. The bridge runs nearly 8 kilometres (5 miles) from the Swedish coast to the artificial island of Peberholm in the middle of the strait. The crossing is completed by the 4-kilometre (2.5 mi) Drogden Tunnel from Peberholm to the Danish island of Amager, then on to Copenhagen.

For us, the relaxing and scenic voyage on the train is part of the enjoyment of the trip

Hagaparken

 

The Park

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This is a massive and beautiful sprawling park across the lake from the Stockholm University campus. Not only is it a gorgeous display of nature, but it also has the Haga Palace, King Gustav III’s Pavillion, botanical gardens, a Chinese pavilion and gardens, a Turkish Kiosk, and it is also the site of the Swedish Royal Burial Grounds.

What’s more, we didn’t even know all those things were there; we came to see the butterfly house and aquarium, which are also on the grounds! All in all an amazing park that you could easily spend an entire day exploring.

I will review the attractions we visited, over and above just walking around the beautiful lake and park, and I will make updates when we make future trips to see the other things. So if you’re a follower of the site, you’ll get an email when I add more content to this article.

The Butterfly House

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Ok, I know what you’re thinking. This just seems wrong on so many levels. What exactly is a butterfly house anyway? And even if there is such a thing, can a manly-man like the Travelin’ Man even be seen attending such a place? And given the long, dark, cold winters of Stockholm, how could you even sustain an environment for a, er um, butterfly house?

Well, it really is quite amazing. When you walk into this place, you literally almost choke to death. The humidity goes from crisp and clear to a thick 100%, and the temperature is suddenly near 100 degrees f (38 Celsius).

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But then you recover, and you look around and see a tropical forest, with jungle plants, ponds, and yes, butterflies!

 

There is also a koi tank and even some giant spiders, scorpions, and other tropical insects and fish.

 

Now it is a small area, but you will definitely see many different species of butterflies. We used our prepaid Stockholm pass to get in at no cost, so I don’t know what the admission is to get in. Note, too, that the aquarium is included with the admission.

The Aquarium

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This is actually part of the butterfly house. Don’t go in expecting some great aquarium like in Chicago or Atlanta. This is a very small side show. I will say that some of the advertising I have seen for this place tries to make it much more than it is. Yes, there are fake animals. For example, we never saw an alligator or crocodile as depicted in the adds, or a live hippo. So that is a little misleading and works against them in terms of online reviews.

But to kill a little time, especially if you have some smaller kids, this is a good place. Just set your expectations accordingly.

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The thing that I, personally, enjoyed the most was the sea horses. They have a good display here with several live specimens.

 

There re is also a pretty decent shark tank, with some small sharks in it, and a well developed coral reef with more tropical fish.

So as a standalone attraction, it’s not so impressive, but imbedded inside the magnificent Hagaparken and attached to the butterfly house, you can’t really go wrong.

 

AUG 2017 Newsletter

Hello all,

Wow can you believe it’s already August? And what a busy month we had on the blog in July! I posted a whopping 14 articles last month! AND restructured the menu interface AND added a Stockholm index, wow!

And I still have so much planned. I am writing this update while on the train to Copenhagen, which will get added to the blog. We also did a three hour Segway Tour with our friend Melissa, who is visiting from the US, and I am still documenting Amsterdam. But what I really want you to know is that The Travelin’ Man is extending his reach; I just got my Facebook page up and linked to the blog, and I’m working on getting more social apps up very soon.

So please do me a huge favor and accept the friend invite from the The Travelin’ Man when it comes through. My plan is to make more personal posts on that and still do the formal updates on the blog. I also plan to do event and restaurant reviews from The Travelin’ Man’s Facebook identity. So anything you can do to spread the word about all this is a great help! And also feel free to comment and whatever on the new Facebook when it comes through.

Thanks again for all your support so far and, see ya out there!
-JC

 

Cruise to Rosersberg Palace

Cruise to Rosersberg Palace

 

Recommendation

The Travelin’ Man’s Overall Recommendation: VERY GOOD*
(surprisingly good, exceeding on some levels)

  • What did I like the most: amount of original content in the castle
  • What is the biggest area for improvement: more time slots for English tours

Logistics

We got our tickets at the Stadshuset and Riddarholmen Boat Tours, Stadshusbron, Klara Mälarstrand 2, 111 52 Stockholm. They were 445 kr each.

The Boat trip is two hours each way, and the return time is fixed, meaning the boat leaves and then returns to pick you up at the specific time. We left the dock from Stadshuset at 10am sharp. It is a guided tour, meaning they will call out points of interest along the way over the speaker system.

The Boat

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The name of our boat was s/s Evert Taube. She is what I’ve come to expect from Stromma for cruises like this.

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There’s a fairly large internal cabin, a large upper deck (exposed) and a smaller back deck that is outside but covered.

It has a snack bar in the main cabin that serves sandwiches, chips, and soft drinks. You can also get wine and beer at the bar.

There is also free wifi. Just don’t count on it always working. 😉

 

The Cruise

The cruise was excellent. Going out, we sat up on the outside deck and enjoyed an abundance of sunshine, fresh air, and good company. We even got some coffee and pastries from the bar and brought them up.

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As I have mentioned on all Lake Mälaren cruises, the scenery here is just amazing. It’s great watching the landscape transform from city to country.

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This is especially evident on the above shot, which is Hasselby Strand, the end of the green line. After that, no more big buildings. The guides will sometimes call that out, but other times they don’t. And this brings up my biggest gripe about the cruise; there is no speaker down in the main cabin. So if you want to hear the tour guide, you have to be on the top deck.

The Palace

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This is now one of my favorite Swedish palaces. It is just bristling with Sweden’s history, and so much of the castle contents is still original, including many rugs, tapestries, paintings, and furniture.

This was the palace of King Karl XIII before he was king. He was the younger brother of the famous Gustav III, who of course was assasinated at the opera and whose son was exiled.

 

Unfortunately, the only way to see the palace interior is by guided tour. But, the tour was very well done. She pointed out some of the more intimate details, like the hidden passage into the queen’s bedroom and the cool stairway from the king’s bedroom that led to his upstairs library. Fascinating stuff.

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The tour was 100 kr, but certainly well worth it. As I mentioned earlier, this palace has a lot of original content and is very well preserved. Some of the rooms define majestic beauty and look exactly like you envisioned from novels you may have read.

If I have a complaint here, it is that the English tour only ran at 3pm, and we arrived at 12pm. On the other hand, that gave us plenty time to have lunch and tour the grounds on our own.

Food

There were snacks and sandwiches on the boat. In the morning, we had coffee and pastries. On the afternoon cruise, there is a cooked meal available. I believe our offering was salmon, but we didn’t get it. If you want the afternoon meal, you should inform the staff prior to disembarking at the palace.

There is a cafe in the palace. It is very small and offers some salads and sandwiches, plus a selection of desserts. And of course wine and beer.

* Each area is rated on a scale 1-5, with 1 = poor, 3 = good, 5 = exceptional
How did this do compared to what I had expected: 4
How well were the logistics handled: 3
Was the staff helpful and friendly: 3
Overall execution and presentation: 4
Total score: 14
4 – 8 is POOR (was not at all what I expected and/or was not worth the time/money)
9 – 10 is OK (quality of the experience was a little low, but I enjoyed it)
11 – 13 is GOOD (met expectations, would recommend, would do again)
14 – 15 is VERY GOOD (surprisingly good, exceeding on some levels)
16 – 20 is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED (outperformed my expectations, great value)

Bridges Boat Tour

Recommendation

The Travelin’ Man’s Overall Recommendation: OK*
(quality of the experience was a little low, but I enjoyed it)

  • What did I like the most: Audio guide provided useful info about history and architecture
  • What is the biggest area for improvement: Boat was small, insufficient outdoor seating

The boat did not afford good views of the bridges. The content from the audio is good, but you’d be better served to use the Drottningholm Palace cruise. The boat is much better, and the scenery is fantastic. It’s about the same amount of cruising time, but costs less.

Logistics

We bought our tickets from and departed from the Strandvägen terminal. The tour also departs from Strömkajen, but on a slightly earlier schedule. We paid 260 kr each, and the tour was around 2.5 hrs. The boat leaves leaves on the hour from 10am to 6pm during prime season. Check online for departure times from Strömkajen.

It’s an audio guided tour. If you don’t bring your own earphones, they will provide you a pair at no cost.

The Boat

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This is the aspect that brought their rating down. Considering it was advertised as “Under the Bridges of Stockholm” I would have expected to be able to get some great pictures of the bridges, like in the advertisements.

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But we were seated in the interior, with limited window seats, and facing out to the sides. It’s bench seating on each side of a table. If you don’t get there early, you may not get a window seat. Furthermore, there are two pickup spots, so if you are boarding at Strandvägen, there may not even be any good seats left since it leaves from Strömkajen first. There was a very small outdoor area in the back, but it only seated about 10 passengers and was full when we boarded.

There is a snack bar with sandwiches and treats, and they also serve wine and beer.

The Tour

The boat goes all the way around the southern island (Södermalm), turns around at the City Hall, then comes back using the same route. It swings a little bit wide on either side to pick up a couple of extra bridges.

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I would have thought the audio guide would be mostly focused on the architecture and history of the bridges, but it was just general Stockholm information. This included a full spoiler for The Vasa, so if you have friends or relatives with you and you were wanting them to learn about The Vasa incident at the museum, then don’t use the audio. Thanks to my friend Melissa for hanging out the window to get the above shot!

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There was some really good architectural and historic information about the buildings we saw and how they came into being as the culture and politics of the area evolved.

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The route took us all the way around Södermalm, so you get to go through the Lock of Hammarby, which separates the fresh water lakes from the Baltic ocean.

We went by the old Absolut factory, but somehow were not able to see the famous vodka barrels. Was probably too busy talking and just missed them. 🙂

 

* Each area is rated on a scale 1-5, with 1 = poor, 3 = good, 5 = exceptional
How did this do compared to what I had expected: 2
How well were the logistics handled: 3
Was the staff helpful and friendly: 3
Overall execution and presentation: 2
Total score: 10
4 – 8 is POOR (was not at all what I expected and/or was not worth the time/money)
9 – 10 is OK (quality of the experience was a little low, but I enjoyed it)
11 – 13 is GOOD (met expectations, would recommend, would do again)
14 – 15 is VERY GOOD (surprisingly good, exceeding on some levels)
16 – 20 is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED (outperformed my expectations, great value)

Viking Museum

Viking Museum

Recommendation

The Travelin’ Man’s Overall Recommendation: GOOD*
(met expectations, would recommend, would do again)

  • What did I like the most: Creativity of presentation
  • What is the biggest area for improvement: Everything in one big room

Logistics

This is the Viking Museum. It’s located on the Djurgården island. It’s between the aquarium and the Spirit Museum. It costs 190 kr ($23), and took about and hour. It’s very child friendly, and has a small cafe next to the gift shop.

We went to this museum with our friend Melissa, who was visiting with us from the states.

The Museum

The big challenge for museums is how to present their wealth of information in a way that will be interesting, and also to present it in a way that you will remember it. The Viking Museum does a pretty good job at both of these things.

They use various digital kiosks, where the data is narrated and presented on large TV monitors. And while this was a very good approach, I would have preferred separate, smaller rooms. Having them all in the same general area was not only noisy and distracting, but it also made people feel like they needed rush through it.

They also have physical presentations of various artifacts in display cases with text describing them. Not overdone or over documented. Very informative and interesting.

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Then there was was this creepy guy. I say creepy because he is very lifelike.  He has been expertly recreated based on osteological analysis conducted by scientists from the Stockholm University.

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Then there’s the story of Harald. You get into a car, of sorts, as demonstrated by our lovely models, Jana and  Melissa.

You are then wisked around to view various presentations that support the narration and sound effects of Harald’s trek. And I’m not going to ruin it for you, but it is well done and was a very creative way to give us the information.

So if you’re like me, you probably envision Vikings as a bunch of medieval terrorists plundering and burning villages and towns along their way. But, there are facts and circumstances that I was unaware of, and this place has the facts and they present them to you in a creative and memorable fashion. I won’t spoil it for you except to say it is a worthwhile visit.

* Each area is rated on a scale 1-5, with 1 = poor, 3 = good, 5 = exceptional
How did this do compared to what I had expected: 3
How well were the logistics handled: 4
Was the staff helpful and friendly: 3
Overall execution and presentation: 3
Total score: 13
4 – 8 is POOR (was not at all what I expected and/or was not worth the time/money)
9 – 10 is OK (quality of the experience was a little low, but I enjoyed it)
11 – 13 is GOOD (met expectations, would recommend, would do again)
14 – 15 is VERY GOOD (surprisingly good, exceeding on some levels)
16 – 20 is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED (outperformed my expectations, great value)

 

 

Södermalm Segway Tour

Södermalm Segway Tour

Recommendation

The Travelin’ Man’s Overall Recommendation: VERY GOOD*
(surprisingly good, exceeding on some levels)

  • What did I like the most: riding Segways is great fun!!
  • What is the biggest area for improvement: some of the units were showing their age and could use a refresh

Logistics

There are several Segway tours in the Stockholm area, and we intend to do them all eventually. The tour we did for this review was hosted by Daytrip Stockholm AB, located at Mälartorget 19, 111 27 Stockholm (all the way south on Gamla Stan).

Our tour lasted about two hours, and cost 495 kr each ($60). It’s a guided tour, meaning there are a few planned stops where your tour guide will give some narration on the local area you are traveling through. But the way these things generally work is you’re really more interested in riding than talking, and they are aware of this. Our tour guide was Åsa, and she was awesome.

The Training

This was not our first time on a Segway, so we didn’t really need the introduction session that they all give, but it never hurts to hear it again. They help you get on it the first time so you see how it works, then you ride around in the designated training area for about five more minutes and now you’re ready. It really is that simple.

The Tour

We had a nice route that took us around Södermalm. I say it was a nice route because they kept us away from the heavy traffic areas and we had limited big intersections to get through.

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And Södermalm has a lot to offer in terms of beauty. Looking down at the water from those high cliffs is spectacular. One of the areas our guide stopped at was where some of the older houses were that were there before the big Södermalm buildup. Very historic. Then she took us to a large seemingly private paved area that went around a group of trees in the middle. She let us do laps around it as fast as we wanted. Kinda of a neat way to blow off some steam!

All in all this was a great tour and honestly, the length was just right for us. I will definitely add the other tours once we do them.

* Each area is rated on a scale 1-5, with 1 = poor, 3 = good, 5 = exceptional
How did this do compared to what I had expected: 3
How well were the logistics handled: 3
Was the staff helpful and friendly: 4
Overall execution and presentation: 4
Total score: 14
4 – 8 is POOR (was not at all what I expected and/or was not worth the time/money)
9 – 10 is OK (quality of the experience was a little low, but I enjoyed it)
11 – 13 is GOOD (met expectations, would recommend, would do again)
14 – 15 is VERY GOOD (surprisingly good, exceeding on some levels)
16 – 20 is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED (outperformed my expectations, great value)